Sherpas Navigate Big Apple Canyons

When a 10-year civil war drove tourists and climbers out of Nepal, the Sherpas who catered to them also left in droves, and many wound up in New York driving cabs. The taxis offer not only a livelihood but also fewer risks. "I stopped extreme climbing for my own safety," says Tsering Norbu Sherpa, a descendant of Tensing Norgay. ABC News goes along for the ride.

Cab driving is far more lucrative job than mountain guiding. "Even if tens of thousands of people climbed those peaks every year, it wouldn't generate the kind of money that Sherpas can make here," says an Outside magazine reporter who spent nearly a year with the Sherpas. One of the worst things, according to Tsering? People having sex in cabs: "It shows such disrespect." (More immigrant stories.)